Partial Landscape; verso: Rock Face 1864

Editor: This is Sanford Robinson Gifford’s "Partial Landscape," a pencil sketch. It feels almost like a memory, a fleeting impression. What do you see in this piece, beyond the obvious landscape elements? Curator: I see the legacy of Manifest Destiny, cleverly disguised as a serene vista. Gifford, whether consciously or not, participates in the visual rhetoric that justified westward expansion and the displacement of Indigenous peoples. Editor: So, the beauty is… problematic? Curator: Exactly! Consider the power dynamics at play: who gets to define "landscape," and whose stories are erased in the process? Whose land is this, really? What do you think? Editor: I see it differently now. There is a lot more to unpack. Curator: Indeed. Art can be a powerful tool for both perpetuating and dismantling oppressive ideologies.